wagymnasticsfandomcom-20200222-history
Main:Ksenia Semenova
Novomoskovsk, Tula Oblast, Russia |Row 5 title = Years on National Team |Row 5 info = 2006-2011 |Row 6 title = Coach |Row 6 info = Marina Nazarova & Nadezda Nabokowa |Row 7 title = Current status |Row 7 info = Retired}} Ksenia Andreyevna Semenova (Russian: Ксения Андреевна Семёнова, pronounced: Xe-nya Sem-''yo''-nova, born 20 October 1992 in Novomoskovsk, Russia) is a retired Russian artistic gymnast. She is the 2007 World Champion on the uneven bars, and the 2008 European Champion on the uneven bars and the balance beam. She was a member of the silver-medal-winning Russian team at the 2008 European Championships. Semenova is the 2009 European All-Around Champion. Career 2007 Semenova broke onto the international scene at the WOGA classic in January where she placed first on uneven bars and balance beam. She continued her success as part of the Russian team at the Gymnix International in Montreal, scoring an exceptional 15.95 on uneven bars, blowing away the rest of the field with her world leading start value of 7.2. She also won balance beam with an exceptional 15.85 and placed 3rd on floor exercise. In march at the Russian National Championships she helped the Central region to victory in the team competition, won the uneven bars with 15.975 and took 3rd on beam. Semenova was unable to compete at the European championships in April but returned to win the uneven bars competition at the Russian Cup in July. Her main competition of the year came at the 2007 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in September where she succeeded in becoming world champion on the uneven bars scoring 16.35 over Nastia Liukin and Yang Yilin, making her the first Russian world champion in gymnastics since her idol Svetlana Khorkina. 2008 Semenova's first major meet came in April with the European championships, where she helped Russia take silver in the team competition and secured gold in both the uneven bars and the balance beam, with scores of 15.9 and 15.95 respectively. In may she competed at the Moscow Stars World Cup where she won another gold on the bars scoring 16.075. Her success continued in June when she finished 2nd at the Dutch Open, behind Anna Pavlova, the two of them leading an all Russian sweep of places 1 to 6. Semenova had problems during the Russian Cup in July, where she fell on beam in qualifications and on vault in the all around final, but she still managed to take silver behind her teammate Afanasyeva. Aged just 15, Semenova represented Russia at the 2008 Summer Olympics and placed 4th in the all-around, just out of medal contention but surpassing all expectations. Semenova's team was considered to be one of the top four competitive teams (along with China, the USA, and Romania), but narrowly missed an opportunity to medal in Beijing, trailing the third place Romanian team by less than a full point. Semenova also placed sixth in the uneven bars competition. In the team preliminaries, she placed 8th overall on balance beam; her excellent scores almost qualified her to compete in the balance beam finals. However, only two athletes from each country may compete in the event finals. Her teammates, Anna Pavlova and Ksenia Afanasyeva, qualified in sixth and seventh place, edging her out of the competition. Semenova and Afansyeva both earned a score of 15.775, but the tie-breaking rules gave the advantage to Afanasyeva. Semenova competed in the uneven bars finals placing a respectable 6th, but was left behind the front runners Nastia Liukin, Yang Yilin, He Kexin and Beth Tweddle because of a deficit in start value, which Semenova had little time to upgrade due to her determination to excel in the all around competition. Semenova ended the season with a wrist injury that prevented her from competing at the world cup finals in Madrid. 2009 Semenova started her season at the Russian National Championships where she placed second in the all around to outstanding junior Aliya Mustafina. She won the uneven bars and floor exercise to book her place on the European championships squad. Semenova placed first in the all-around competition at the 2009 European Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Milan, Italy, just ahead of her teammate Afanasyeva. In the event finals, she was second on the uneven bars behind Beth Tweddle of the United Kingdom and third on floor, behind Tweddle and the 2006 World Champion, the Italian Vanessa Ferrari. Semenova also qualified for the balance beam final and finished in fifth place with an uncharacteristically shaky routine. In July she suffered a minor injury to her wrist keeping her out of the Russian Cup, but has been confirmed to the Russian team for world championships in October along with Yekaterina Kurbatova, Anna Myzdrikova and Ksenia Afanasyeva who eventually withdrew due to an injury. After a qualifying round marred by wobbles and a fall on her floor routine, she was 10th going into the all-around but failed to make any event finals. Another fall from the uneven bars during the first rotation prevented her from a better placement and she finished 13th overall. 2010 and after Semenova was named to the Russian team for the World Championships in Rotterdam. She contributed to the Russian's first team gold medal since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Following the World Championships, Semenova dwindled a bit. She was not added to the Olympic selection squad in June, and retired after the Olympics.retirement Post-Career Semenova subsequently became a judge, and also provided commentary for the Universiade in Kazan. She married Russian gymnast Denis Ablyazin in September 2016,married and the two of them welcomed a baby boy in January 2017.baby boy Medal Count References